[extropy-chat] Fighting mad! (was transhumanist nut jobs & transhumanism going extinct)

[The Avantguardian]

--- spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:

>
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/posts.html?pg=4

They called us nutjobs. 

> 
> > bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Samantha
> Atkins
> > Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] transhumanist nut jobs
> > 
> > Using such a phrase is not a compliment.   It
> implies we are
> > generally nuts but now and then may be onto
> something.  It should be
> > objected to.
> > 
> > - s
> 
> >From the general tone of the article, it didn't
> feel to me like an
> intentional jab, or rather I didn't feel insulted. 
> Of course, I seldom do,
> even if an insult is the intended, so perhaps I am
> not the right one to ask.
> 
> 
> Recommend we laugh it off.

Again? How many times are we going to turn the other
cheek while the media insults us left and right. I
have had enough, it is time for an object lesson. I
recommend we play tit for tat and retaliate. Not with
some whiny little letter to the editor, however.

No, I recommend we sue Wired for LIBEL. The transhuman
orgs could use some cash and Wired Magazine has deep
pockets. They printed a very negative portrayal about
transhumanists as a whole in widely distributed
magazine. This potrayal is simply not true and they
knew it. Such is called defamation in print or libel.
It is a tort and suable in court. 

I spoke to my attorney about it this morning. He said
he would need to read the context in which it occurred
but it sounded as if there are grounds for a lawsuit.

However, I do not serve in any offical capacity on the
board of any transhuman org so while I may be fighting
mad, it's not my fight. My recommendation is somebody
on the WTA BOD sue them. It will be easier to explain
to the judge why an officer from an organization that
has "transhumanist" in its offical title would be
offended at the remark "transhumanist nutjobs".

Not-for-profits can sue and be sued just like any
other corporation. Rather than worrying about all the
bad press we have been getting lately, I say we start
hitting back. Let the media know they won't be able to
take cheap shots at us with impunity. Instead of
wallowing in self-pity at our impending extinction, I
suggest we mobilize. If we transhumanists don't start
standing up for ourselves, nobody else will!

Justice De Thezier claims that transhumanism "is not
above politics". If that is the case then it is time
for the WTA BOD to get down in the mud and start
wrestling with the pigs because that is what politics
entails.





Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"God doesn't play dice with the universe." - Albert Einstein

"Einstein, don't tell God what to do." - Neils Bohr

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